"Zelda the Great" introduces Anne Baxter as the show's first female villain, a master illusionist who calls herself Zelda the Great, all of her magic tricks supplied by Albanian Eivol Ekdal (Jack Kruschen), at a very high price, $100,000 to be exact. We open inside a bank vault where the disguised assailant makes off with that same amount, the guard unable to stop him because bullets have no effect on the criminal. One of the bullets leads Batman to conclude that the thief was a woman, but without any leads decides to create one by planting a false newspaper story informing the crooks that the stolen money was counterfeit. This irks the greedy Ekdal, who has promised to show Zelda his latest creation, 'an indestructible doom trap,' seemingly inescapable, but not until she can come up with another 100 grand to save her failing act. The phony emerald planted in the salon of Hilary Stonewin (Barbara Heller) is quickly thrown away by Zelda, proving to Batman that she correctly smelled a trap, instead kidnapping none other than Dick Grayson's Aunt Harriet (Madge Blake) for a ransom of $100,000. Best remembered for "All About Eve" and "The Ten Commandments," the smolderingly sexy Baxter makes for a fun loving yet reluctant criminal, eager to display her prowess to taunt and befuddle the Dynamic Duo (after this two parter, she would return the third season as a new villainess, Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, opposite Vincent Price as Egghead). Watch for a cameo from longtime Hollywood veteran Frankie Darro as the newsman who reads about the counterfeit cash.
Review of Zelda the Great
